With the rise of campus protests focusing on institutional racism, #BlackLivesMatter, and demands for speech restrictions — there has also been a dramatic increase in the number of racial threats on college and high school campuses.
While there were only two (very minor) race-based campus threats during November 2014, Red Alert Politics counted at least 15 serious race-based threats on campuses during November 2015 — a 750% increase.
The 15 race-based campus threats in the month of November 2015 include incidents at the University of Chicago, University of Missouri, Western Washington, Saginaw Valley State University, Indiana University, Northwest Missouri State University, Michigan Tech University, Howard University, Kean University, Lewis and Clark University, Dartmouth University, Capital University, Berkley High School, and Charleston Southern University.
The threats made in Chicago, Missouri, Western Washington, Saginaw Valley State, Northwest Missouri State, Michigan Tech, and Charleston were serious enough that arrests were made. At Berkley High, a 15- year old student turned himself in, but there was no formal arrest made.
In three of those incidents, the would-be attackers were black, three were white, and one’s race was not identified by the press.
Multiple threats were made online — especially through the anonymous social media platform Yik Yak.
While all threats should be taken seriously, some have proven to be hoaxes. In the case at Saginaw Valley, the threat to “shoot every black person I can” was made by a black man who said he was just joking.
At least two incidents of actual violence have been reported. At Lewis and Clark University in Washington State, 26-year old Tanguy Muvuna from Rwanda alleged that three white men slapped, punched, chocked, and kicked him. He also alleged that they tried to make him drink liquid from a small bottle.
Many consider his story to be suspicious, as he refused medical assistance and didn’t file a police report the incident for nearly four hours. He also changed the timing of the incident the next day, stating that the police got the wrong time in their report.
The other was at Dartmouth University, which saw 150 #BlackLivesMatter protesters hurl racist slanders at white students. “F**k you, you filthy white f**ks!” “F**k you and your comfort!” “F**k you, you racist s**t!,” they reportedly yelled according to the Dartmouth Review.
Reports claimed a woman was pinned to the wall; another felt so threatened she was forced to flee from the study hall.
The rise of racial protests on campus could be causation for or correlation with the rise of race-based threats. Assailants are both black and white, and the incidents are continuing to occur at an alarming rate.
